Six killed in Iraq suicide bombing

Baghdad, Oct 8 (Xinhua) A woman suicide bomber blew herself up Wednesday outside a court in northern Iraqi city of Baquba killing six people and wounding 18 others, the police said.The attack occurred around midday when a woman wearing an explosives-belt blew herself up among a crowd of people at the entrance to the city court, a police source told reporters on condition of anonymity.

The powerful blast also destroyed several nearby civilian cars and buildings in the city, some 65 km northeast of Baghdad, the source said.

Diyala province, which stretches from the eastern edges of Baghdad to the Iranian border, has long been a stronghold of al Qaeda network in Iraq.

US and Iraqi security forces have been conducting major offensives against extremist Sunni and Shia militiamen in the province and some other provinces.